Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Michael D. Robinson writes, “Years ago, I read a quotation: “Every time a physician is called a provider and a patient is called a consumer, an angel dies.” The Internet offers vague allusions to a novel and a columnist, but I couldn’t find a source that includes both parts of the quotation. I have vague memories of the late Uwe Reinhardt, a healthcare economist, as the author, but my Internet search doesn’t support that. Please advise.”

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138 or chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Related topics

You might also like

America’s Past, Opera's Future: 11 New Books from Harvard Authors

These newly released novels, histories, and memoirs grapple with identity in all its forms.

How Adam Ehrlich Sachs Writes Absurd and Beautiful Fiction

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

The Year a Beat Poet Squatted at Harvard

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.

Most popular

Three Harvard Unions Move Toward Strikes

Dining employees, academic workers unions join graduate students in threatening a walkout.

To Promote Healthy Habits in Patients, Start With the Doctors

Why Harvard Medical School is training physicians to think more like coaches

Who Is Accountable for the Acts of AI Systems?

Establishing legal responsibility for autonomous agents

Explore More From Current Issue

Bronze statue of a seated figure holding a book, with a campus setting in the background.

As humanities shrink across higher education, one department is flourishing. Is its success a fluke, or a roadmap?

Illustration of a phone, book, hourglass, weights, and a hand reaching for a device on a blue background.

Your thoughts on how to regulate the platforms—and stop using them so much

A smiling man in a brown plaid suit stands outdoors with greenery in the background.

The professor and former Harvard College dean is the next president of Harvard Magazine’s Board of Directors